In recent years there has been a substantial increase in the production of fresh water food fish through fish farm culture of, especially, catfish, in relatively small artificially created and maintained ponds or other impoundments. One approach to the harvesting and sale of fish produced by such fish farms is the establishment of a commercial enterprise often referred to as a "pay lake", in which members of the public are allowed to take fish from the impoundments by baited hook and line. It is common for the operators of such pay lakes to charge a nominal admission fee to fish the impoundments, and to charge for fish actually harvested on a weight basis. It is therefore critical to the financial success of these enterprises that fishermen be able to achieve success in actually catching fish, since the admission fees themselves seldom generate sufficient income to maintain a profitable business operation. It is also preferred that the feeding activity of the fish in such impoundments be such that fish are not caught by fishermen at an excessively high rate, in order that a reasonable balance between recreational activity and fish harvest may be achieved. With the growth in the fish farming enterprises there has been a corresponding search for an effective method of inducing and increasing the feeding activity of fish maintained in such environments in a controlled manner.
One approach to achieving the goal of increased feeding activity is the use of luring essences applied to or incorporated into the baits used by the fishermen. Such essences, which are well known in the prior art, are typically concentrates of dead fish or other animal matter attractive to the target fish species. While such essences have been moderately successful in attracting fish which are searching for food, they do not appear to be effective in inducing or initiating feeding behavior, and the results achieved from the use of such essences in a "pay lake" setting have been highly variable.
Another approach to inducing feeding activity in fish is exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,903,260, which teaches the use of amino acids, amino acid salts, and closely related compounds to stimulate feeding behavior. In the practice of the method taught by the noted patent, the compounds are introduced into the aquatic environment of the fish for the purpose of inducing an immediate feeding response. This approach is, however, primarily directed to the creation of a short term response in the fish in order to encourage complete consumption of feed simultaneously introduced into the aquatic environment, and the behavioral effects are of short duration from a single treatment. Thus, while successful for its purpose, this approach is of limited usefulness in the "pay lake" context, in which a steady feeding response over a long duration is desired. It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a method of inducing feeding behavior in fish and maintaining that behavior over an extended period of up to twelve hours without the need for repetition of the steps of the method during such time period.